Just Standing in Their Way
by Jim Buckley
I was sitting in my parked car outside the house I’d been staying in for the past few days, here in Santa Barbara. My host doesn’t have cable-TV service and I wanted to hear what Donald Trump had to say at this, his last rally before the upcoming Republican Convention.
People had begun lining up for entrance to the rally site in Butler, a small town outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, since early morning, and I was as eager to hear what his final thoughts were going to be as they were.
What tone would he take?
Who had he chosen as his Vice-Presidential running mate?
Maybe we’d learn today.
The rally began, as it always does, with Lee Greenwood’s Reagan-era hit, “God Bless The U.S.A.” As the notes die down, Greenwood’s familiar refrain slows, and the song ends. Red, white, and blue flags of Old Glory flutter in the wind and on large screens:
“And I'm proud to be an American
Where at least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died
Who gave that right to me
And I'd gladly stand up next to you
And defend Her still today
'Cause there ain't no doubt
I love this land
God Bless the U.S.A.”
I was fortunate to have watched Greenwood, along with former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and NYFD Battalion Chief Richard Picciotto who survived the collapse of the twin towers and wrote about it in his biographical account, “Last Man Down,” sing it together on stage under a tent in Bakersfield, California not long after the events of 9/11.
It never fails to evoke strong emotions.
Even a tear or two.
Back in my car in Santa Barbara, I’m listening as the former president walks to the stage and begins to speak.
Suddenly…
Pop, pop, pop.
Pop, pop…
The radio went silent.
I had heard those sounds before. It was the night of December 8, 1980, when John Lennon was shot outside his home in Manhattan. My window was open, and my apartment was less than a block away from The Dakota, the Central Park West building where John and Yoko lived.
Pop, pop, pop.
Pop, pop.
“What was that?” I wondered but wrote it off as firecrackers set off just after midnight; someone was probably celebrating Chinese New Year.
The ensuing sirens foretold a different story.
My brother called a couple hours later and said simply, “John is dead.”
And here I sit in my car, full of fear and trepidation, knowing I had just heard the unmistakable sounds of gunfire, waiting to find out what has happened to Donald Trump.
It turns out he was grazed by one of the bullets fired by a gunman from a nearby roof.
“He’s safe,” someone in authority said.
“Thank God,” I thought.
Trump’s guttural, post assasination fist-pumping rebel yell of “fight! fight! fight! ” roared with the power of Henley’s “Invictus”:
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
At some point in all these rallies, usually near the end, but not always, Trump interjects that “they’re not after me, they’re after you. I’m just standing in their way.”
His statement was proven accurate in sharp detail this day, Saturday, July 13, a little after 6 pm Daylight Saving Time in Butler, Pennsylvania, 3 pm California time.
Rather than try to understand how a shooter could get up on the roof of a building less than 200 yards from the former president with so much “security” surrounding the area, we believe it best to turn over the rest of this column to our readers.
We’ll all know much more in 24 or 48 hours. Yes, Trump’s rallies will be different (though we don’t know how different) and security will be tightened, particularly at the upcoming Republican National Convention.
We’ll cover those events.
But we’d like to hear your thoughts about what just happened and why. We only ask that your comments and responses be civil.
Ruminations on where we’re going as a country and how this incident, and this election will affect the course of history will be much appreciated.
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The Democrat leaders and the MSM mouthpieces for them have been repeatedly asking for what happened yesterday. Violence is all they have left to offer, as their policies have turned our country into an over run banana republic, governed by an obviously demented president. It’s clear to many of us that God has his hand on Trump and this nation. I hope that people are on their knees thanking God for saving Trump and imploring Him to give America one more chance. Trump states this often- they are not just coming after him, but they are coming for Us. He is just in their way.
Having led "SWAT" teams for many years at the Sheriff's Office, it is hard to believe that the sniper was able to get that close to the former President. In my training and experiences, "high ground" is the first thought in a potential shooting situation (Harvey Lee Oswald). It will be interesting to see the results of the "after action" report. I am a Trump supporter but those shots were fired at democracy.